Musings from a contemplative bus operator's point of view, by Deke N. Blue, author of "JUST DRIVE - Life in the Bus Lane."

Saturday, June 2, 2018

Secretary Treasurer Mary Longoria On Her Candidacy

Deke's Note: Current ATU 757 Secretary/Treasurer Mary Longoria responds to my questions of the candidates for top office in our local.

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Mary LongoriaATU 757 Secretary/Treasurer

1) Who are you, and which office are you campaigning for?
What makes you our best choice? Why do you want to serve in this capacity?
I'm Mary Longoria, and I'm running for re-election to the
office of Financial Secretary-Treasurer for ATU Local 757. I believe that I'm
the best candidate for the job because of my proven track record stabilizing
and growing this union's finances over the last six years, and I'm running to
build on that momentum.

When I took office in 2012, we had less than $30,000 in the
bank. Mandatory reports had either been filed late or not filed at all. We had
mail that was lying around, unopened, from 2008. During my first six months, I
worked 7 days a week to try and get our files in order, get reports filed
properly, and take stock of our financial health.

I'm proud to say that we've successfully righted the ship,
and I'm running to build on that progress. We have nearly $1.5 million in the
bank today, and that's growing every month. We've cut wasteful spending in the
office and I'm always looking for ways to make our work more efficient. And you
know, the Supreme Court is about to deal every public-sector union a financial
blow through the upcoming decision in Janus v. AFSCME, and our financial
stability is going to help us weather the storm.2) What do you believe to be the membership’s main concerns
moving forward through 2020? How would you work toward improving these areas?
The #1 concern I hear from members is the issue of assaults
on transit workers, and I'll go into depth about that in your next question.

Communication is also a big issue for us. In the past, we
haven't done a very good job of getting information out to members about
contract negotiations or events, and information out to the media and the
public about our work. In the last year, we've hired a communications staffer
who's helped us with that. We've been posting more on social media to ensure
that folks see what we're working on and know how to engage with us. We've got
our new, monthly e-mail newsletter. We're updating the website on a regular
basis, including our events calendar. We're getting more press attention than
ever - just check the Portland Mercury's latest couple of issues. And there's
more to come: we're working to roll out a new text-messaging service to help
members receive action alerts about contract issues and events. This is an area
I'll continue to prioritize to ensure that members know what's going on at the
union and what's happening with their contract negotiations.3) Assaults are on the rise every year. Do you believe
operator barriers are the answer? What are the pros and cons of the barriers?
What else could be done to stop this escalating problem?
I do not believe that barriers are the answer, at least not
the barriers TriMet's proposing. I do think we need better bus design for
operators. Like in Europe: buses are designed so that operators are physically
separated from riders with a half-wall barrier, and they have a separate door
on the left-hand side to exit the bus, which means that there's a way to escape
if something happens. But putting the operator in a cage with holes don't stop
weapons or biohazards. That's just not going to cut it.

One solution that we've discussed is putting video monitors
on the bus, so that riders know that they're on camera at all times. In other
places that have tried something similar, just that moment of recognition can
be enough to discourage someone from acting up. We're going to actively push
for that at TriMet and in the Oregon Legislature to require it across transit
agencies in Oregon.

Another thing we've been working on is bringing back the
Rider Advocate Program, which TriMet scrapped in 2009 after 15 successful
years. The company partnered with community organizations to put trained,
ATU-represented folks on the bus with the skills and experience to intervene
before an altercation happened, especially for people experiencing mental
health issues. TriMet's refused to bring back Rider Advocates, and so we're
working with our community partners to make the program happen anyways.

Finally, we need to get serious about punishing folks who
commit assaults on transit workers. We've fought for a bill in the Legislature
to upgrade assaults on operators to a more serious felony level, and we're
going to keep fighting for it.4)Since we cannot strike, how can we ensure that our union
membership concerns will be taken seriously by management? Do you have any
creative strategies to ensure constructive dialog and positive actions?
Well, first things first, I think we need to fight to win
the right to strike back. I did not support giving up our strike rights when
previous leadership agreed to do so. We gave up our right to withhold labor to
force action in favor of letting some third-party arbitrator decide on our
contract for us. We sent out a survey to TriMet members asking them what they think
about the right to strike and other issues. We will be sending out another survey later in
the year regarding just the right to strike, what that means, the steps to a
strike, so members understand what it means to vote for a strike. If the
members want ATU to lobby for that right back, then I will push this union to
fight for strike rights in the Oregon Legislature.

That's going to be a long-term battle, to be really honest
with you. So, until we win those strike rights back, there are a few things we
can do. The first is by building coalitions with community-based organizations,
transportation advocates, and riders' groups. Although our issues don't always
perfectly align, building that base of support means that management is going
to have a much harder time ignoring us. The second thing we can do is speak up
in the media, to counter management narratives and ensure that the public knows
what's REALLY going on. Finally, we need to step up as members and do more
public, collective actions, like informational pickets, public awareness
campaigns, and more.

Plus, there’s nothing illegal or unethical about a robust
work-to-the-rule campaign so that we stop giving employers, especially TriMet,
free labor.5)The local media message is controlled by management. How
do you propose to engage the media and help the public understand the issues we
face?
Our communications guy has helped us fight management
narratives in the media like never before. You can look at the process that hired
Doug Kelsey as TriMet's new top boss: once we got the story out there that the
process was rigged from start to finish, the media and our partner
organizations started shining a light on Doug Kelsey and on TriMet, and the
company had to delay his hiring by two months while creating a plan to make
Doug more accountable to workers and riders. Or look at TriMet stranding
drivers on the side of the road: it happened to an operator on a Thursday
afternoon, and by Friday morning we'd gotten the Oregonian to write about it,
and by the following Monday TriMet had changed the road relief policy.

We're going to do more of that. We're going to identify
opportunities to educate the public about how TriMet management actually
operates, so that they don't just believe whatever spin TriMet's PR teams put
on the issues. We're going to help journalists better understand our work by
connecting them with rank-and-file workers, and by telling those stories
ourselves. I've seen a shift in how TriMet stories are handled in the media,
and I want that to continue.6) Social media is a very active and volatile tool within
our membership. How will you use it to communicate with US?
Well, like I said before, we've been more active as a union
in using social media like Facebook and Twitter to communicate with our
members. We've got more folks than ever engaging with ATU 757 online, and I
look forward to seeing that continue.

Social media can be a double-edged sword. It can be a way to
quickly communicate with members, but I've noticed that discussions and debates
become toxic really quickly online, in a way that I don't see at in-person member
meetings. So, I think there's a balance.
We need to use social media to hear from and speak to members, but it's not a
substitute for in-person, member-to-member organizing, which we need to do more
of.7) Members are upset with the arbitration process and how
the union communicates decisions to the membership. Is this process broken? If
so, please state your ideas on how to improve arbitration procedures.
We set out to do more arbitrations this term, and we have.
We wanted to average 12 grievances taken to arbitration a year, and we are
meeting that goal, but it isn’t easy; it’s not a perfect system. Grievances
take work to schedule and have to be scheduled months in advance. Then they
take months to prepare for and the decision comes months after that.

In the future we need to do a better job of not sending everything to the
arbitration list; we need to filter some of the grievances out, be more honest
about what is a winner, and figure out other ways to approach the rest, like
collective action. If a department knows they need a safety net for their
maintenance pit, it should be going in and talking to the supervisor, demanding
a new net or we will go to OSHA and then following through with the
demand.

What I am saying is, that with Janus coming, and making all of our
public-sector properties Right to Work, resources are going to be more limited.
We need to focus on building power through the membership, through collective
action, rather than through one grievance at a time. The labor movement was
built on collective action and getting back to it is the only way we are going
to succeed.8) What’s your favorite union movie, and why?
At the River I Stand.

I grew up in the 1960s in a poor household but was fortunate
to have been taught that no matter what ethnicity you are, we all put our pants
and shoes on the same way, we all bleed the same, feel pain, we all want to be
treated with respect, and to do the best for ourselves and family. I could
relate to some of the ridicule and embarrassment that happened in the movie.
The beatings of people just because of the color of their skin makes no sense
to me. It breaks your heart and your spirit when people say hateful things just
because of the color of your skin, the clothes that you wear, or just because
you are different. The movie inspired me to get involved and fight for human
dignity, better working conditions, and to hold your head up when faced with
adversity I believe in these words:

“I can never walk in someone else’s shoes and no one can
walk in mine, but the steps we all take today make the person we will be
tomorrow.”9) How do we get more members involved, attending meetings
and adding to the overall discussion?
I sound like a broken record, but communication is key. We
need to let members know what's happening at the union, when, and how they can
get more involved.

Beyond that, we need to make meetings more accessible for members.
For example, we've worked with our Portland Public Schools Special Education
school bus drivers to hold "day meetings" outside of the normal union
meeting cycle. They're not official union meetings and we don't conduct formal
union business like voting on grievances, but rather we give members an open
opportunity to share and discuss their issues. Staff and leadership attend, but
the meetings are run by local shop stewards and the Executive Board Officer
from the property. That's worked well, and it's given members more control over
their meetings. I want to expand those outside of PPS and start hosting regular
listening sessions at all of our workplaces.10) I’ve only asked questions on a few points. Please let us
know what other issues you believe are vital as we move forward.
I’ll keep it simple, especially with right-to-work on the
horizon: United We Stand, Divided We Fall!

Deacon Who?

(Note: Ideas and opinions expressed in this blog are not necessarily shared by the transit agency I work for. This is simply an expression of free speech while describing the work bus operators perform.)
I have been (and called) many things in this life. Most of all, I'm a writer who happens to drive a bus. In May of '13 I thought it would be fun to write about my job. As a direct result of this blog, I published a book in November of 2017 called "JUST DRIVE - Life in the Bus Lane" that is available on Amazon. I write to provide insight as to what it's like on a bus... From The Driver Side. Thank you for reading!